I will put this in (I hope) very simple terms. Probably way simpler than you need. So please don't be offended or think I'm being patronizing. It it's corny, forgive me...
As I understand it:
Imagine a piece of rock 53 meters wide 100 meters high and 100 meters long.
It is sitting on its edge, so the base is 53x100.
An intersection refers to a drill hole drilled through from (at right angles) from one side to the other. That would be 53m of drilling. And its a true width. If we drilled on an angle it would be further to drill, so would give a "bigger" intersection, but the "true width" would still only be 53m.
Now let's use this piece of rock as an example for grades.
An intersection of say 53m @ 5.3g.
Imagine now we cut a 1m x 1m block out of the corner of one end of our rock. That piece would be 53m long and 1m cubed or m3. So we would actually have 53m3 of rock.
That represents 1 lateral or cross wise cubed meter.
How much gold is in that?
Well, most gold bearing ores are in the range of 2.5 and 2.8 tons per cubed meter. So that does complicate my illustration a bit. But let's just assume 1m3 = 1 ton to keep it simple. (a density of 1:1) We can later just multiply by 2.8 to get real tons! (the density of 1:1.8
So, let's take our 53x1x1 piece of rock.
53 x 5.3 grams = 280.9 grams.
There are approx 31.103 grams of gold in an ounce (Av)
So, 289./31.103 = 9.03 oz.
Meaning for that cubed meter of rock 53 meters long taken from ACROSS the rock or reef (= to an intersection), we will get 9 oz of gold. You can or course multiply that by 2.8 (density of the rock) to get true gold for the actual tons.
Now an example with some of the other grades we were discussing:
52m @ 6.4
52x6.4 = 332.8 grams per cubed meter across the ore body. 332.8/31.103 = 10.69 oz per lateral meter
8m @ 26.5
8x26.5 = 212grams 212/31.103 = 6.8 oz per lateral meter.
Now, The VALUE of a reef or ore body is not just in how wide it is: the cross section or intersection.
It is important how long and high it is. As an example the Lipichi reef is noted to be demonstrated at over 100 meters long and open at depth. Meaning of course that it is not known how much further down it goes at those grades etc.
A short intersection at high grades is FINE, as long as it is demonstrated to extend. How long it is, how far down it is etc. The intersection only tells us how wide it is. Infill drilling is usually aimed at identifying the other issues of extension.
You will now see why when Sirdean suggests the first list were better than the ones I quoted, I don't get it.
The first one had 53m @ 5.3g/t The second had 52m @ 6.4g/t
Easy to see which lateral meter has the most gold.
Anyway, that's a rough take on it. Hope it's not confusing. Others may have better.
Cheers
That part of a description doesn't tell you how long or high it is
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